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Storytellers setting out to create a love story face many obstacles, and one of the more serious obstacles is an underdeveloped love interest. This is what you get when the protagonist’s sweetheart doesn’t seem like a complete character in their own right. They might just … read more »
We authors love putting multiple points of view in our stories. It’s just so tempting! Why struggle to show what this character is thinking on the outside when you could give them a POV? Why work so hard to construct a plausible way for the … read more »
We’ve all seen stories get sequels, even when they really weren’t necessary, but what about the reverse? What happens when a story really would have benefited from a sequel that never materialized? That’s what we’re talking about this week, joined for a third time by … read more »
Sometimes, stories have to make it clear that a character is bad or at least that they did a bad thing. This vilification has numerous uses, from making us hate a villain to showing us why a hero must seek redemption. Why do we cheer … read more »
In many horror movies, the black woman is a mere friend – cannon fodder, to put it bluntly. She’s there to throw in a splash of diversity before killing her off. Luckily, people in the real world are beginning to acknowledge black women and their … read more »
Conflict is the engine that moves the plot and lights up characters. But what happens when a storyteller forces conflict into places where it doesn’t make sense? That’s when you get contrived conflict, and it’s usually followed by audiences asking things like “Why are they fighting?” and … read more »
A throughline is the core or central plot thread of your story, the problem introduced in the beginning and resolved in the climax. It’s what ties everything together and keeps the audience engaged. Novels without strong throughlines have a difficult time building tension or creating satisfaction, two … read more »
It’s easy to find the creepy elements in bad stories. Often those elements are why a story is bad in the first place. Few people are lining up to defend the invasive underwear shots in Star Trek Into Darkness or the blatant misogyny of Michael Bay’s Transformers films. … read more »
The Force is an energy field created by all living things, except it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with living things. Is it just a collection of Jedi superpowers, or does it mean something more? What is the ‘Dark Side,’ and can there … read more »
While not all antagonists are full villains, they all provide opposition to the protagonists. It’s their job to drive the story’s conflict, and to do that job well, it must feel like they can defeat the heroes. One reason we remember the likes of Darth Vader and … read more »